Yanks utilize ex-51s at top level

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, June 22, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- To hear alumni of the Las Vegas 51s tell it, suffering with the Yankees is better than fame anywhere else.

After all, it's the New York Yankees who have most of baseball's greatest players -- Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Mariano Rivera. But it's also the Yankees who have two of the more recent call-ups from Las Vegas, acquired by trades from the parent club Dodgers.

Last month, pitcher Tanyon Sturtze, working to resurrect a career that had stalled over the past two seasons, was sent to New York for infielder Brian Myrow. Last year, Las Vegas outfielder Bubba Crosby was part of a deal that brought Robin Ventura to Los Angeles.

Now both, particularly the youthful Crosby, enjoy fame about as far away from the nearly empty bleachers of Cashman Field as a ballplayer can possibly go.

Sturtze filled an immediate need the Yankees had for a reliever who could also provide quality starts. He has filled that role, going 2-0 in his starts with a 4.26 ERA and a .260 batting average against.

He started last Wednesday at Arizona, but was back in the bullpen and ready for duty on Sunday in Los Angeles. He didn't pitch against the Dodgers, and the Yankees had Monday off to prepare for today's game at Baltimore.

Even Sturtze, 34, is impressed by the company that surrounds him.

"Being able to come and play for Yankees, it's the best organization in baseball, the best team in baseball right now," he said Sunday at Dodger Stadium. "It's a little bit better than I expected it to be here. ... It's the best team in baseball."

As for Myrow, the player the Dodgers got in return for Sturtze, Yankees manager Joe Torre didn't have much to say. But Los Angeles assistant general manager Kim Ng said that the Sturtze trade reflected a commitment new general manager Paul DePodesta has to making moves in the best interest of the players as well as the organization.

Sturtze's locker at Dodger Stadium's visitor's clubhouse, right in the middle of a long row of lockers on the room's north wall, is hard to miss. But buried in the corner of the clubhouse was Crosby's locker, hidden from the throngs of reporters who cover the Yankees.

Which is why Crosby doesn't complain about having that corner locker.

Then again, Crosby won't complain about much about being a Yankee. Even though he has become what he calls a "shuttleman," a player with a lot of minor-league options who can fill short-term holes in the roster without the team having to worry about risking him going on waivers to another team, Crosby still beams excitement about putting on the pinstripes.

He was called back up from Triple-A Columbus on June 15, nine days after being sent down when Giambi came off the disabled list. Before being sent down, he had been in the majors since May 22 -- the day Giambi went on the DL.

"Right now, he's going back and forth," Torre said. "He's a good player. He showed us that in the spring. He got our attention."

In all, Crosby has made the trip from Columbus to New York five times this year, after a start that surprised almost everyone. After making the Yankees' roster out of spring training, he had two home runs, including his first-ever major league home run in his first at-bat as a Yankee, over his April stretch. His New York batting average is .231 in 26 at bats.

"Every time you're on the road, you have to take everything you own with you," Crosby said of the "shuttleman" role. "But the fact going up and playing with the New York Yankees, it makes it all worth while."

Last June, when Crosby was filling space in the other locker room at Dodger Stadium, he couldn't imagine where he'd be a year later.

"It's unbelievable. I never thought I'd be in this situation a year ago. Sitting in the visitor's locker room with a New York Yankees jersey in my locker, it's pretty exciting," he said. "When I was traded, I went from one tough organization to the toughest."

While playing time may not be easy to come by with a roster full of all-stars and future Hall-of-Famers, experience and advice are. Even though Crosby's locker was tucked away, he still has plenty of time in the dugout, weight rooms, and travel to siphon off some of his teammates' excess knowledge.

"I'm able to sit up and listen to what these guys have to say. They've got so much info a young guy like myself can gather. I can listen to a conversation between Bernie Williams and Sheffield, or Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter; you can't buy that kind of info," he said. "I have a lot to learn, so I just keep my mouth shut."